The Sunday Survival Buzz – Volume 81

Welcome to this week’s Sunday Survival Buzz – a roundup of preparedness news, tips, articles and recommendations from around the web. But first, an update on my own preps.

All of my fellow procrastinators need to give me a cheer since the big task I took on this week was to organize my storage area. Things were getting to the point that I did not know what I had and where – it was a big mess. I set aside two hours and in that two hours I was able to get rid of the excess carton boxes that were cluttering up my space, organized food by type and put all of my gear into one section all of its own.

Did I get a lot done? Yes! It was easier than I thought but I still have a long way to go. I now need to put things up on the Harbor Freight shelves I set up months ago and take an exhaustive inventory. Luckily, I have been diligent about packaging food items in Mylar bags with oxygen absorbers plus I have lots of buckets so I know my food supplies are in good shape.

While sorting through everything, I momentarily thought that I might have become a hoarder but I let go of that right away. I am simply being prepared, or, as the older generations used to say, saving up for a rainy day.

I may not have mentioned it but a couple of weeks ago I purchased a cast iron “drop biscuit” pan. What the heck is that? It is a cast iron pan with round impressions that hold your dough – sort of like a fancy, cast iron muffin tin but larger.

I have to tell you – this makes great biscuits. Using the Provident Pantry Buttermilk Biscuit Mix which I already knew was good, the biscuits cooked up higher and lighter than on a flat baking sheet. I was impressed enough that I want to try making individual meatloaves and pizzas in this pan and maybe some poached eggs.

Sometimes you just have to have a bit of fun in the kitchen, you know?

BTW, I made these cloth napkins in
1970 and they are still going strong.

Speaking of fun in the kitchen, sitting on my counter are the ingredients I need to make a big batch of DIY biscuit mix. I will let you know how that goes but it may not be until next month when I get back from my travels.

With the big sale going on with Mountain House products this week, I ordered some stew, beef stroganoff and chicken a la king. I also ordered a Tote-able Toilet. My plan is to fill it with hygiene and sanitation supplies such as TP, alcohol and alcohol wipes, and some of my own tea tree wonderful. This would be a good place for ladies to store their emergency feminine products although I am too old to need them myself.

The Polio Vaccine Myth: “The Vaccine Stopped Polio”: I was actually surprised – no shocked – by the words of Dr. Jonas Salk that were quoted in this article. I recently took a pass on getting the shingles vaccine – for all of the reasons cited here and more. I share this not to convince you to do something (or not), but to encourage you to be educated so that you can come to your own well-thought decision on the vaccine or no-vaccine dilemma.

BACKDOOR SURVIVAL READER TIPS

Tried one of our magnesium fire starters today… I am not a stupid person but I could NOT get the thing to work. I could barely get any magnesium to scrape off and they would not light.

Got on YouTube and discovered that the Chinese made, which this turned out to be, are known for this. Hell, the magnesium wouldn’t even light with a butane lighter. We had bought two of these from a well known survival supply. The YouTube video suggested a ‘Doan bar’ which is issued to the military.

TRY YOUR FIRE STARTERS!

Kevin has a tip related to the Blocklite flashlight that I love so much (I now own six – you know me and my flashlight fetish!):

Did you know that the Blocklite comes in two types, linear switch and push button?

The push button type can be turned on easily and in a pack, glove compartment or other tight space like a pocket, can turn itself on and go dark in the process. It may take a week, but all batteries will eventually exhaust the power available.

As a result, I only buy the linear switch type. The push button type can be saved from this problem by storing it without the battery connected.

OTHER ANNOUNCEMENTS

The recent WonderMill giveaway is closed and I hope to announce the winner on Wednesday. It is taking me quite a bit of time to go through the 708 entries and weed out those that are not eligible. As with the last round, some folks entered six or more times. Jeesh.

Not to worry though. Starting in late October, I have more fabulous giveaways planned including (DRUM ROLL PLEASE!) a Royal Berkey compliments of sponsor LPC Survival and a Kaito Voyager Solar/Crank Up Emergency Radio compliments of sponsor Camping Survival. I also have some emergency food giveaways and a lot more lined up so be sure to check back here and on Facebook for the announcements.

BACKDOOR SURVIVAL BLOOPERS

Yay! No bloopers this week unless you count the three hours the website was down due to technical issues at my host. Thank you everyone for reporting the outage. Luckily it was not something I did and gurus at Parcom Cloud Hosting got things up and running quickly.

THE FINAL WORD

For many different reasons, lately I have been doing a daily happy dance. One reason has to do with an article that I have been working on that is tentatively titled “What Prepper’s Get Right”. There is so much negativity these days, I have started to focus on the positive. In addition, boring for you but important to me are the Backdoor Survival Alexa rankings that tell the world how how popular a site is as well as how authoritative – meaning credible. It is all good news and as always, I thank you for being so loyal.

Now tell me. How about you – what did you do to prep? Until, next time, remember to make every day a prep day!

Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!Gaye

If you have not done so already, please be sure to like Backdoor Survival on Facebook to be updated every time there is an awesome new article, news byte, or link to a free survival, prepping or homesteading book on Amazon. You can also follow Backdoor Survival on Pinterest.

Tote-able Toilet: I could have put this together myself but by the time I added it all up, it was cheaper to purchase this kit for $14.95. Plus, my order was large enough that I got free shipping so it was an all-around good deal.

Phoenix Island: The author of that little one cent book on DIY Sourdough Starter that I like so much lives nearby. He has recently re-published a classic survival story set in my own area, the San Juan Islands of Washington State. This is a wonderful piece of survival fiction – and only 99 cents. Enjoy!

Need something from Amazon (and who doesn’t)? I earn a small commission from purchases made when you begin your Amazon shopping experience here. You still get great Amazon service and the price is the same, no matter what.

Comments

What have I done this week? Not much. I have my 89 year old uncle, and a few of his “kids”, coming to visit Monday. I have been trying to clean up this barn. When you live alone, things tend to pile up. My uncle is the “master prepper”, so I will get to glean his fine mind.
I did finally get some help to put my walls up in the basement to build my root cellar/refrigerated room in bad case scenario. I also canned 7 quarts of beef stew, but one of them didn’t seal. You know what I had to eat that day..

I havent bought anything lately, but I have been cleaning in prep for additional space coming soon. I found more goodies-yay. next few weeks I’ll get more flour, sugar, dog food and canned goods, and pasta for winter. always nicer loading from car to boat, then from boat to another car, then to house-while the weather is still nice.

You know what I wish – I wish Lodge would make a round muffin pan to fit inside the dutch oven! I still make biscuits in my dutch oven but how nice it would be sometimes to be able to make just a couple and not a whole pan full.

One of the things I have been doing lately is from a tip somewhere – When I go to the grocery store, whatever I purchase in cans or boxes, I purchase at least one extra for my food rotation. One of my local stores currently has Rice A Roni and Pasta Roni on sale for $0.88 per box. I really stocked up. I not only like these but they are versatile. I can take some of my FD chicken or beef and add to the Rice A Roni, add some FD veggies and lo – have a wonderful meal to serve more than just me!

Love this site – always lots of good information. Keep up the good work.

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MEET GAYE

I'm Gaye, just an ordinary gal trying to make sense of our changing world. I am addicted to prepping, DIY projects, adult coloring books, and ballroom dancing. I live what I call a strategic life and believe you should too. Everyone needs to prepare for the worst and live for the best. Won't you join me?

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